Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

     Click image for UK      Click here for US

An English village slumbers on the Surrey/Sussex borders, but the pastoral exterior hides a number of nightmare secrets. The return of a young man, Philip, after a long absence stirs memories of the horrific murder of his mother and uncle years earlier and of an ancient curse delivered upon the family in Napoleonic times. The villagers’ unease grows as Philip embarks upon an affair with the local farmer’s daughter, and a series of mysterious deaths seem to follow in his wake. Soon their anxiety turns to fear as they feel evil in their midst. Could Philip be in league with the Devil? Set in the 1920s and full of authentic period detail, this is a tale which will haunt readers long after the last page has been turned.

Dr. Rachael Benedict is an American historian and a best-selling author. She has a British connection through her estranged father Saul, an English thriller writer. Saul, whose parents were of Anglo-German origin, has spent much of his life plotting to expose secrets from World War Two, which are so sensitive they have been subject to an extensive cover-up lasting seventy years. As the time approaches for him to make his move to expose duplicity, murder and lies at the heart of the British State, he seeks Rachael’s help. This provokes a killing spree as parts of the security services of both Britain and the United States become engaged in the drama, with one side determined to get the secrets out and the other determined to keep them hidden.
Set equally in the United States and Britain, the narrative grips from the first page, transporting the reader to the heart of government both in Washington and London and on into the darkest corners of the secret states on each side of the Atlantic. Rachael battles forward to unearth the truth both from intrigues of the Nazi era, but also within her own family, surviving three attempts on her life, before finally achieving her goal. Not only does she expose the truth from history and from her own roots, she has to delve deep into her own emotions to find the truth about herself.

Click on image for uk.          Click here for US

If Sepp Blatter is re-elected it will underscore the culture gap between Europe and the developing world. FIFA pours big money into developing countries to support football infrastructure which helps to develop backward economies and give their populations hope and motivation. If you are a delegate from parts of the world which are at a marked disadvantage to and exploited by the prosperous West, you may consider a few sweeteners a small price to pay for all that this old man has brought to your country.

UEFA should stay in, no matter what the outcome. From within it can, with all its constituent national football associations and crime agencies, ensure that in future FIFA respects the law of honesty and fair dealing. It is also important to ask, as the reports and evidence of corruption are so widespread and of long standing, why it is that no European country has had its crime agencies carry out any kind of formal investigation as to what is happening within their own borders involving FIFA. That needs to change too. Behavioral patterns are hard to shift but when large numbers of FIFA officials dare not fly anywhere without fear of arrest on landing, those patterns will change to a more acceptable format.